# can humans eat meat naturally?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-eat-meat-naturally/522309>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 23, 2009, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-eat-meat-naturally/522309 "2009-12-23T10:20:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-eat-meat-naturally/522309/21 "2009-12-27T01:52:46Z")

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**kitxox** said:

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> i thought we only started properly cooking meat really recently due to bacteria (and not taste preferences)  
> what about before that?

As has already been stated, and bears repeating, human ancestors were cooking meat before they were homo sapiens. In fact, it is theorized that what allowed our ancestors to develop the bigger brains and become the dominant predator on the planet was our inclusion of meat in our diet.

> [@](#):
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> Its either we are carnivores naturally and dont because we’re pussies  
> or we’re not suppose to on a regular basis/ at all

False dichotomy. Our ancestors were omnivores with a high plant matter/low animal matter diet (think chimpanzees). Their descendents, still our ancestors, started eating more meat, and cooking meat. That allowed them to develop smaller teeth and still eat meat effectively.

Most people who eat meat prefer their meat cooked because we come from a long line of cooked meat eaters. It makes the meat easier to eat, and helps it last longer, and it makes it taste better. (🙂 on that last part)

There are tribes that drink blood raw from a cow, and eat grasshoppers and ants and things raw. People can and do eat raw meat. Depends on which people.

\*\*qazwart \*\* said:

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> If you look at the difference between apes and man (especially starting with Homo Erectus), the biggest difference is our much smaller gut and teeth. Somewhere down the line, even though we’re omnivores, we lost our meat tearing canines and much of the gut we need in order to help digest it.

Go read the column again. Meat-digesting guts are typically _shorter_. True carnivores have shorter guts than humans. True herbivores have much longer guts than humans, often with several other organs to aid in cellulose digestion. I’m not certain how human guts compare to other great apes, but if ours are shorter that is an indication of a larger meat diet, not a smaller one. But you are correct about our teeth.

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**Author:** ![Kenyth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kenyth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenyth)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-eat-meat-naturally/522309/22 "2009-12-29T18:06:25Z")

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> [@constanze](#):
>
> Slight aside question: I’ve read often about how the Indians would dry their meat that way, cut into stripes and hung on lines in the sun. When I thought about doing that in my (hpyothetical) backyard, I wondered: wouldn’t thousands of flies immediatly settle on the meat and bring diseases? Or is it somebody’s job to stand there and wave all the flies off? Do you happen to have any personal practical experience with this?

Yes, flies land on it, in droves. The makers of such primitive jerky simply don’t care. Once dried, the fly eggs won’t hatch and the bacteria won’t live.

This is where brining, pickling, smoking, and curing with salt come in. All methods reduce the palatability of the meat to insects and kill bacteria, before and after drying. Smoking has the added benefit of keeping insects away DURING the drying.

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